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Gas and Electricty

Making your money go further
airbus330
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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444722

Postby airbus330 » September 23rd, 2021, 1:42 pm

Dod101 wrote:
simoan wrote:
Dod101 wrote:
Well I always look for the cheapest petrol, but quite a number of those who have been switching around in buying their utilities now seem to be in a spot of bother.

Dod

Well, it's not really bother, is it? If you ignore the hyperbole in the media, no-one is going to be cut-off and their supply will be moved to a new supplier at which point they can look to switch if they wish. No-one likes it when the price of something goes up a lot but you may find yourself in the same position next time you need to order oil for your boiler. Just because you're own circumstances are different from 95% of the population doesn't mean you should somehow be allowed to admonish people with a kind of "serves you right" attitude for doing something that is perfectly legitimate and for many years has saved people a significant amount of money.

All the best, Si


I'm sorry. I do not mean to suggest 'serves you right' and if I gave that impression I apologise. All I was saying is that for the supply of electricity I never found it worth the bother and you were the one to imply that I had more money than sense which is not very generous either.

My oil price varies hugely and I expect that when I come to refill my oil tank in another month or so it will be expensive but that is life. It has been very cheap for the last year or two.

Dod


So I see now why DOD using heating oil, probably sensibly, along with the chap above using wood fuel, don't spend too much time playing hunt the lowest tariff. I imagine, particularly with oil, the game is filling up the tank when the spot price is low. A game I used to play in the late 90's, when heating oil suddenly tripled in price over a year. Now with my utility bill running over 2k/year, it really makes sense to change each year, or at least do the sums. Unfortunately, as AVRO have now tanked, I've been caught out, but the steep rise I'm going to get now has only brought forward what would have occurred in January when my contract was up. The bigger question is predicting how the Price Cap will move in April next year. Various doom laden predictions suggest that the price will leap again, making a rapid move from SOLR to a new expensive fix sensible, but what if prices suddenly stabiles or fall. Uh! What to do?

Dod101
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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444725

Postby Dod101 » September 23rd, 2021, 1:50 pm

airbus330 wrote:
So I see now why DOD using heating oil, probably sensibly, along with the chap above using wood fuel, don't spend too much time playing hunt the lowest tariff. I imagine, particularly with oil, the game is filling up the tank when the spot price is low. A game I used to play in the late 90's, when heating oil suddenly tripled in price over a year. Now with my utility bill running over 2k/year, it really makes sense to change each year, or at least do the sums. Unfortunately, as AVRO have now tanked, I've been caught out, but the steep rise I'm going to get now has only brought forward what would have occurred in January when my contract was up. The bigger question is predicting how the Price Cap will move in April next year. Various doom laden predictions suggest that the price will leap again, making a rapid move from SOLR to a new expensive fix sensible, but what if prices suddenly stabiles or fall. Uh! What to do?


I actually have a woodburner as well and buying good kiln dried logs is not cheap! I certainly fill my oil tank when the price is low but a bit like filling your petrol tank there are times when you need to bite the bullet and buy anyway, but with that mix, electricity is a relatively small part of my fuel bill.

Dod

airbus330
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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444729

Postby airbus330 » September 23rd, 2021, 2:03 pm

Dod101 wrote:
airbus330 wrote:

I actually have a woodburner as well and buying good kiln dried logs is not cheap! I certainly fill my oil tank when the price is low but a bit like filling your petrol tank there are times when you need to bite the bullet and buy anyway, but with that mix, electricity is a relatively small part of my fuel bill.

Dod


Indeed, I don't see the media screaming about the price rises for Kiln Dried Logs! They've rocketed this year. But I love my log burner and if all the lights go out, we'll still be warm :lol:

staffordian
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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444740

Postby staffordian » September 23rd, 2021, 2:43 pm

UncleEbenezer wrote:
staffordian wrote:EDF offer a phone number to contact them by WhatsApp. Great, I thought. I'll get a definitive answer, but after typing m query, all I get is a bot reply saying it didn't understand the question :evil:


You may be on the pathway that caused me to leave EDF. In your position I'd leave the DD open until you have resolution, or at least meaningful communication.

If I hadn't cancelled it last week, that's exactly what I would do :D

staffordian
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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444742

Postby staffordian » September 23rd, 2021, 2:48 pm

A quick question...

Are the current tariffs which are being advertised pre- or post-cap change prices?

The EDF standard variable tariff we've been moved to is dear enough; a 70% increase on our previous bill, but it's just crossed my mind this might go up again when the cap rises on 1 Oct.

Anyone know?

TIA

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444755

Postby daveh » September 23rd, 2021, 3:29 pm

Dod101 wrote:
airbus330 wrote:
So I see now why DOD using heating oil, probably sensibly, along with the chap above using wood fuel, don't spend too much time playing hunt the lowest tariff. I imagine, particularly with oil, the game is filling up the tank when the spot price is low. A game I used to play in the late 90's, when heating oil suddenly tripled in price over a year. Now with my utility bill running over 2k/year, it really makes sense to change each year, or at least do the sums. Unfortunately, as AVRO have now tanked, I've been caught out, but the steep rise I'm going to get now has only brought forward what would have occurred in January when my contract was up. The bigger question is predicting how the Price Cap will move in April next year. Various doom laden predictions suggest that the price will leap again, making a rapid move from SOLR to a new expensive fix sensible, but what if prices suddenly stabiles or fall. Uh! What to do?


I actually have a woodburner as well and buying good kiln dried logs is not cheap! I certainly fill my oil tank when the price is low but a bit like filling your petrol tank there are times when you need to bite the bullet and buy anyway, but with that mix, electricity is a relatively small part of my fuel bill.

Dod


I produce my own firewood - bit of work with the chainsaw and log splitting maul but free wood (at the moment). Plus takes up a lot of space in the garage and garden as I have to dry it for a year or two. We've got a lot of dead elms around here over the last few years that need to be taken down and need cleared away. Did just spend a lot of money on a new battery Stihl chainsaw, not tried out yet to see how long I get per charge

88V8
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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444762

Postby 88V8 » September 23rd, 2021, 3:38 pm

6Tricia wrote:OVO pays me 5% on the amount my account is in credit (that is after being a customer for several years!

I'm in credit >£600 and quite happy as they pay me 5% tax-free. OK, it's peanuts.

During the summer they nag me to reduce my DD (£170) then each winter when the storage rads come on they're surprised that the credit is eroded. I wonder what they think people do with E7 electricity...

Dod101 wrote:I actually have a woodburner as well and buying good kiln dried logs is not cheap!

We have two... last week two tons of seasoned (not kilned) were delivered to add to the ton I already had in our woodshed and that might or might not get us through the winter.
Yes, they have gone up, but no one's going to bleat on our behalf, I mean... burning stuff :o even though they're not fossilised.

V8

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444791

Postby Dod101 » September 23rd, 2021, 5:19 pm

88V8 wrote:
6Tricia wrote:OVO pays me 5% on the amount my account is in credit (that is after being a customer for several years!

I'm in credit >£600 and quite happy as they pay me 5% tax-free. OK, it's peanuts.

During the summer they nag me to reduce my DD (£170) then each winter when the storage rads come on they're surprised that the credit is eroded. I wonder what they think people do with E7 electricity...

Dod101 wrote:I actually have a woodburner as well and buying good kiln dried logs is not cheap!

We have two... last week two tons of seasoned (not kilned) were delivered to add to the ton I already had in our woodshed and that might or might not get us through the winter.
Yes, they have gone up, but no one's going to bleat on our behalf, I mean... burning stuff :o even though they're not fossilised.

V8


As a matter of interest do you test it for moisture content before burning?

Dod

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#444797

Postby richlist » September 23rd, 2021, 5:42 pm

We also have a small logburner. I'm fortunate that we have a lot of land & some woodland. I never cut trees down for the log store but find we just need to wait until there is a storm or high winds and we find branches or the odd tree down and that is more than sufficient. I have a few ton of logs seasoning away......I never buy logs.


I also like portable gas heaters, especially at this time of year when it's not cold enough to turn on central heating or logburner. They are clean, easy to put anywhere you need and it's easy to pick up gas bottles throughout the spring and summer for almost nothing.

airbus330
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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445024

Postby airbus330 » September 24th, 2021, 1:08 pm

So the skeletons are begining to fall out the closet.
https://www.aspokesmansaid.com/kelvin-m ... they-owned

Also reported in The Times.

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445190

Postby Sunnypad » September 25th, 2021, 9:09 am

Still have no idea what the electric company are doing

I got the £200 credit into my bank. Then I got an email saying they didn't owe me that money and it only showed up that way because they hadn't applied the latest meter reading I gave them, even though the account said it had.

Now getting an offer to fix the rate for 18 months, which I presume I should take. Even if it looks too high, the prices will go through the roof won't they.

It is tempting to be on no fixed tariff and see what happens, especially as the costs are much lower in this flat in winter. But given the market is apparently the Wild West, that's not the right option I guess?

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445354

Postby forrado » September 26th, 2021, 12:27 am

The cheapest isn't always the best. From the pages of the Mail on Sunday.

The man who made a fortune setting up SEVEN collapsed energy suppliers

In spirit of fair disclosure I get my gas and electric from Octopus Energy

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445385

Postby 88V8 » September 26th, 2021, 11:26 am

Dod101 wrote:As a matter of interest do you test it for moisture content before burning?

No.
However, when it arrives, before stacking I always chop some of it smaller, using a maul. It's easy to tell if it's not dry.

Before settling on our present suppler - Elcombe Firewood - we tried a few sources, some of them had a very elastic notion of 'seasoned'.
When Elcombe run out, they say they've run out. They don't try to pretend that fresh stuff is seasoned.
Ordering in March sometimes, having ourselves run out, I've had to buy their kilned but it burns jolly fast so it's not a preferred option.
https://elcombefirewood.co.uk/product-category/woodyard/

V8

Dod101
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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445388

Postby Dod101 » September 26th, 2021, 11:34 am

88V8 wrote:
Dod101 wrote:As a matter of interest do you test it for moisture content before burning?

No.
However, when it arrives, before stacking I always chop some of it smaller, using a maul. It's easy to tell if it's not dry.

Before settling on our present suppler - Elcombe Firewood - we tried a few sources, some of them had a very elastic notion of 'seasoned'.
When Elcombe run out, they say they've run out. They don't try to pretend that fresh stuff is seasoned.
Ordering in March sometimes, having ourselves run out, I've had to buy their kilned but it burns jolly fast so it's not a preferred option.
https://elcombefirewood.co.uk/product-category/woodyard/

V8


Better not divert this too much but you need wood below 20% for optimum burning but if it burns very quickly though you ought to check how air tight your stove seals are and the species of wood you are burning. I have tried most but find for instance oak is too slow burning for me and have settled on kiln dried ash. Not cheap but burns well and is easily controllable.

Dod

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445511

Postby mutantpoodle » September 27th, 2021, 8:18 am

so my email re AVRO arrived last night
seems going to Octopus
could be a great deal worse so for time beong not unhappy
of course dont know the tarif yet and it will clearly be £00s more than Avro
we expecting £70-£80 a month extra
so will be deighted if its less ( well 'delighted' might be over stating it)

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445533

Postby swill453 » September 27th, 2021, 10:00 am

mutantpoodle wrote:so my email re AVRO arrived last night
seems going to Octopus
could be a great deal worse so for time beong not unhappy
of course dont know the tarif yet and it will clearly be £00s more than Avro
we expecting £70-£80 a month extra
so will be deighted if its less ( well 'delighted' might be over stating it)

You'll be able to switch as soon as the transfer is complete, so at most you'd be on whatever tariff Octopus give you for 2 or 3 weeks if you don't like it.

Of course you won't be able to find a fixed price tariff as good as AVRO's but, hey, that's why they went out of business...

Scott.

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445535

Postby staffordian » September 27th, 2021, 10:05 am

It does seem that the best "fixed" rates available at the moment are the capped standard variable tariffs available from any supplier. Fixed until next April (excluding any government U turns) after which, I dread to think...

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445546

Postby bungeejumper » September 27th, 2021, 10:58 am

mutantpoodle wrote:so my email re AVRO arrived last night
seems going to Octopus
could be a great deal worse so for time beong not unhappy.

Ditto, my AVRO is going to Octopus. I was impressed with O when they had my account a few years back, and they were more than gracious when I eventually moved on to another supplier that was offering an even cheaper deal.

How unsurprising, then, that the company I then moved to was Green Network Energy, which didn't even make it past January this year before it collapsed into administration. By that time I'd already moved to AVRO, which is also an ex-company now. :|

It's been a merry dance, following the cheapest suppliers from one 12 month deal to another. Like being at the back of a conga line where the rearmost competitors keep on dropping dead. Good luck, Octopus, and please keep on dancing.

BJ

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445640

Postby funduffer » September 27th, 2021, 3:36 pm

For those moving to Octopus, I would stick with them for the next 6 months.

They are committed to holding their variable rates to the equivalent of £51 below the annual standard price cap of £1280 (from Oct 2021), until next April.

That should get you through the winter, and then maybe look around and see what there is.

I doubt you will find a fixed rate better than this.

You could have done worse than being moved to Octopus.

FD

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Re: Gas and Electricty

#445715

Postby Nimrod103 » September 27th, 2021, 7:18 pm

I read that Green customers (including me) are to be moved to Shell, about which I know nothing. Any views or opinions? I was thinking that it would be best to stay on the capped variable tariff until early next year.


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